166 



THE AMERICAN GARDENER. [Chap 



said about the season for grafting, and Mr. Mar- 

 shall tells the English, that it must not be done 

 till the sap ki the stock is just ready to flow 

 freely. He has never seen an American Negro-man 

 sitting by a hot six-plate stove, grafting apple-trees 

 in the month of Januarj', and then putting them 

 away in his cave, to be brought out and planted in 

 April ! I have seen this ; and my opinion is, that 

 the work may be done at any time between Oc- 

 tober and May : nay, I am not sure, that it may 

 not be done all the summer long. The cuttings 

 too, may be taken off, and put on directly ; and, 

 the sooner the better ; but, in the ^vinter months, 

 they will keep good off the tree for several 

 months, 



282. STOCKS must be of different ages and 

 sizes in different cases ; and even the propagation 

 of the stocks themselves is not to be over-looked. 

 Stocks are formed out of suckers, or raised from 

 the seed ; and the latter is by far the best ; for 

 suckers produce suckers, and do not grow to a 

 handsome stem, or trunk. Crabs are generally 

 the stocks for Apple-grafts, and Plumbs for Pears, 

 Peaches, Nectarines, and Apricots. However, we 

 shall speak of the sorts of Stocks, suitable to each 

 sort of fruit-tree by and by : at present we have to 

 speak of the raising of Stocks. If the stocks be 

 to be of crabs or apples, the seeds of these should 

 be collected in the fall when the fruit is ripe. 

 They are generally got out by mashing the crabs, 

 or apples. When the seeds are collected, put 

 them immediately into fine earth ; or sow them at 

 once. It may not, however, be convenient to sow 

 them at once ; and, perhaps, the best way is to sow 

 very early in the spring. If. the stocks be to be of 

 stone fruit, the stones, as of cherries, plumbs, 



